Book Review: Valdez, A. (2007). Mexican American Girls and Gang Violence. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 209 pp. $65.00 (hardcover)

• Author: B. Dean Lanham
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204009334682
• Published date: 01 October 2009
• Date: 01 October 2009
• Subject Matter: Articles

Book Reviews
Youth Violence and
Juvenile Justice
Volume 7 Number 4
Valdez, A. (2007). Mexican American Girls and Gang Violence.
October 2009 361-364
© 2009 SAge Publications
New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 209 pp. $65.00 (hardcover).
http://yvj.sagepub.com
hosted at
DOI: 10.1177/1541204009334682
http://online.sagepub.com
For decades gang violence has been a continual problem among minority communities in the
United States. In his most recent work, Valdez gives readers an inside perspective into gang violence
among San Antonio’s Westside, utilizing interviews and observational data collected from male and
female juveniles involved in the gang subculture. Valdez’s emphasis on young women on the fringe
of gang life and their association with gangs sheds light on one reason why female crime and delin-
quency has increased over the years. According to Valdez, these women are not trivial, nor should
they be viewed as “Daddy’s little girl.”
In Chapter 1 Valdez details the risks of female gang involvement as magnified by the following
factors: (a) Mexican culture of male dominance, (b) female submissiveness (traditional patriarchy),
and (c) the lack of social support and constraints. Valdez further describes some of the other charac-
teristics contributing to gangs in San Antonio’s Westside, which include but are not limited to low
income; deterioration of traditional institutions; unavailable legitimate economic opportunities and
social services; weak social controls; lack of educational opportunity; unstable family relations; high
crime rates marked by violence, substance abuse, vice district with bordellos, saloons, gambling dens;
and shacks for prostitution (p. 15).
In Chapter 2 Valdez describes juvenile gang involvement on the Westside of San Antonio. During
the 1940s drug trafficking was a very prevalent activity among Mexican Americans due to their com-
mon language and culture with Mexico’s drug wholesalers. At the time of his work, San Antonio had
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